Our Ex-Rep.-Turned-SEC Chief Chris Cox Comes Out Swinging
The Washington Post reports today that embattled Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox is defending his restrained response to the country's financial crisis, arguing he has guided his agency with a steady hand while other federal regulators have not.Our former Republican congressman out of Newport Beach has come under heavy criticism since essentially blaming the largest Ponzi scheme in history on his own SEC underlings. That has led critics to point out that while all of those investment banks collapsed during Cox's tenure, his agency has sat on the sidelines while the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve have worked feverishly on solutions and--most notably--the Man With the Upside Down Smile has taken a very public The-Buck-Does-Not-Stop-Here approach to management.
During his 90-minute conversation with the Post, Cox does an about-face on SEC enforcement efforts he'd days earlier criticized when the Bernard Madoff scandal hit, saying, "We've done everything we can during the last several years in the agency to make sure that people understand there's a strong market cop on the beat. That's why Madoff is such a big asterisk. The case is very troubling for that reason. It's what the SEC's good at. And it's inexplicable."
The thing about asterisks is they don't give you dirty looks in the SEC halls after you've called them out.
Cox accuses the Fed and Treasury of having freaked out. "When these gale-force winds hit our markets, there were panicked cries
to change any and every rule of the marketplace: 'Let's try this. Let's
try that.' What was needed was a steady hand," he said.
By comparison, Cox says, "What we have done in this current turmoil is stay calm, which has been
our greatest contribution--not being impulsive, not changing the
rules willy-nilly, but going through a very professional and orderly
process that takes into account unintended consequences and gives ample
notice to market participants." He called that caution "a signal achievement for the SEC."
The story includes analysis from investment experts and former SEC
officials who blame Cox for some SEC failures and defend him for others
before ending with the big question on everyone's mind: Shouldn't he,
as head of the SEC, be blamed for a culture of lax
enforcement that allowed multiple warnings about the fraud to go
undetected?
"Absolutely not," Cox answers. "In fact, it's in the DNA here that people thrive on bringing big cases."
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RESPONSE TO COX says:
Just another Orange County Catholic high school graduate, politically-connected to corporate wealth, donors and above the law attitudes that permeate OC's existence.
Posted on Wednesday, Dec. 24 2008 @ 10:59AM
Ron Perez says:
Christopher Cox is another typical Republican who has no respect for our country's laws. He was out to get rich by helping himself and his corporate cronies, ignoring the enforcement of our laws and allowing an atmosphere that signaled to his fellow Republicans that there would be little enforcement of SEC rules if any. He has publicly stated that he believes that too many rules impede the free market and would likely not prosecute any wrongdoing by his fellow Republican corporate cronies. Cox is another in a long line of filthy pigs that are synonomous with Bush and all of his criminal associates. This asshole should be tried and sent to prison along with the majority of the Bush crime family members past and present. When will the American people wake and realize that Republicans in their present form are the most un-American bastards that ever breathed our free air?
Posted on Wednesday, Dec. 24 2008 @ 11:36AM
Cesar says:
Hey, Ron, don't hold your breath. Republicans across this once-great land are a bunch of neanderthals who wouldn't stop to help a fellow citizen. They vote their true nature which is greed and believing that man is inherently evil, thus, not giving a crap about decency and justice. They are a bunch of free-market frat assholes who love to privatize profits but socialize loses. To hell with all you who continue to vote your hypocritical selves.
Posted on Wednesday, Dec. 24 2008 @ 12:15PM
beam me up scotty says:
Talk about getting fed to the allegators!!!
You go manage global capitalizm and all thier shanagans -
Where is Ziggy Stardust when you need him!
"freak out" is right
Since it is Christmas, and I stand to be corrected,
There is this wonderful facility in SJC the "Boys and Girls club that offers almost, cost free after school programs for children at the elementry and junior high school level. It has great community support and creates a great opportunity for all us supposedly rich south county pretty people who cant afford the high costs of the plethora of activities offered to our children (at a price). And mitigates the imfamous inconsistant scheduling of school start and end times for the adjacent famous and fabulous Capo School District Schools.o
I remember seeing or hearing that Chris had a lot to do with the Boys and Girls Club along with a lot of other people.
If that is true,
Thanks Chris for making that possible. and
Merry Christmas
Posted on Thursday, Dec. 25 2008 @ 5:52AM
Alex Brant-Zawadzki says:
Yet another example of how Orange County has been desperately struggling to bring down the rest of America for decades.
Keep up the good fight, Steady! You can do it, Don! And you too, Don! The nation will crumble and be yours to rebuild.
Posted on Thursday, Dec. 25 2008 @ 9:26AM
Joel Ritz says:
Orange county has in my opinion the most third world,banana republic poltilical structure I have ever seen.I lived in it for two years and looked into the putrid innards of the beast. Its newspapers,T.V. stations'programming ,judicial structure are all nothing but a " reality show ". I figure that in the new political scene overtaking the nation they will really become the new "Fantasy Island ".
Posted on Saturday, Dec. 27 2008 @ 12:18AM
Mark Stanford says:
Another Cox "duck-n-cover" tactic as a result of coming under fire. Funny there was no effort on Cox' part to defend how miserably he "managed" the El Toro debacle that continues to cost Irvine residents in lost property values because of the contamination Cox let linger, etc.
Posted on Sunday, Dec. 28 2008 @ 5:14PM
Roger Wolff says:
The SEC asks me for investment particulars of myself on an investing form,
since they only know of thieving rather than proper investing why am I required to
do that. They have a lot of nerve.
Posted on Friday, Mar. 6 2009 @ 3:21PM